Designer Fabric Bunting Quilt.

I have wanted to get my hands on some of the new Designer Fabrics since I first saw the Spice Cake Fabrics in the Spring Catalogue. Next to paper crafts, sewing has been one of my longest and greatest passions. I love the colours and designs on the Stampin' Up! Designer Papers so to be able to get those same designs and colours in fabrics was an exciting proposition indeed and what better excuse then the impending arrival of a sweet little one to our family. My SIL isn't due to pop until late December but that is a busy time in anyone's life, let alone a Crafter who is usually flat out through the whole month of December, gluing, cutting, and sewing for all she's worth! So I got in early to avoid the rush and ordered myself 3 sets of Designer Fabric from the new Catalogue : Comfort Cafe, Summer Smooches, and Twitterpated. I cut them into 8" squares and sewed them all together, this left me with enough fabric to a couple of other projects and to cut out this for the back:

There are some really gorgeous bunting inspired quilts out there on the Internet at the moment and I thought this would be a lovely way to dress up the back of the quilt, using my Pennant Parade Bigz Die made cutting out all those flags a doddle:)

My SIL is a mad Disney fan so to make the bunting a little more special I (gulp) cut into my precious Munki Munki / Heather Ross Stash to add a few little characters, Alice in wonderland, Pinocchio, Snow white, they mixed in so beautifully with the other fabrics, I finished the quilt off with a Kona Solid in Grey (?) not sure which one, for the binding. The colours all work together so well for a gorgeous serene palette. I LOVE it, I hope it will keep the sweet little one it's intended for, warm, for years to come.

Delicate Doily Card.

The new Delicate Doily Die was just to beautiful to resist. I've not had the chance to delve into too many of its possibilities but I had to give it a test run as soon as it arrived. This is just a little 4"x4" card made out of Basic Black Card Stock, I cut the doily out if Whisper White and attached it to the card with a few very thin lines of Tombo glue. The bottom edge was cut using the Adorning Accents Edgelit, and then embossed with the coordinating embossing folder. The ribbon is a taffeta ribbon in Regal Rose and the finishing touch on the envelope was a simple black line of lace using the Viola's Lace Builder Wheel. Let me know what you think of it! I find it so hard to make very simple cards as I always want to add some 'fancy' but I quite like this just the way it is.

A Quilt For My Sweet One.

A quick change of direction. I thought I'd share the quilt I made for Little Miss, I'm sure it will be the first of many, but this was supposed to be her first Christmas present. I finished it some time in June... 6 months later then planned, but hey! Life happens:) I made it almost entirely out of my treasured Heather Ross Far Far Away, cotton double gauze which is just the softest fabric you can imagine. The pattern, is a free download from the Amy Butler website which I have had sitting around for while, I just knew it would suit this fabric line. The fairy tale fabric is just so perfect for my little girl and my favourite part is the Princess and the Pea print that I used for the border. It took some fussy cutting but was so worth the extra time and effort.The borders and binding are in Kona Solid Cerise, I'd Ummmmd and Ahhhhhd about using just double gauze for the whole quilt and was going to do the borders in a purple flower print from the Far Far Away line but opted for the Kona as I felt it added some solidity to the delicate surrounding fabric. I took these pics while we were in Italy, such a beautiful inspiring location even with such a reluctant model. I wish I was still there!  I hope this quilt snuggles my little one and keeps her warm for years to come.

Yes the back is upside down but you get the idea :)

Pumpkin Treat

We don't really celebrate Halloween enough in our house, for me to justify getting a stamp set solely dedicated to the holiday, since the arrival of Little Miss however, I have felt the urge to celebrate it in some way. On our family night we take time to remember members of our family who have gone on ahead. Daddy did some pumpkin carving yesterday and whipped up some pumpkin pies. I roasted the pumpkin seeds in a little olive oil and sea salt for us to enjoy over the weekend, and made these Pumpkin Lollipop Holders for Little Miss to give any Trick or Treaters who might happen past the house on Wednesday.

     The holder was made using the scalloped tag on the Two Tags Bigz Die. The pumpkin is so simple to make, I just punched three Extra Large Ovals out of Pumpkin Pie Card stock (of course!) inked around the edges with some Soft Suede Ink, then stuck two of the ovals to the back of the other. The leaves are from the Bird Builder Punch. On the first pumpkin I traced and cut out a face from some Early Espresso Card stock but the thought of doing that for all of them quickly had me reaching for a pen! I finished it off with a small amount of Old Olive Taffeta Ribbon knotted around the bottom of the lollipop stick.

  I'm hoping to get a tutorial made up for the lollipop holder before December as I'm using the same design to make my advent calender this year, so keep tuned!

Little by Little.

I had seen divided page protectors for sale in a craft shop and had fancied trying them, so when I saw them make an appearance in the new Stampin' Up! Catalogue I had to order a set and give them a go. What appeals to me is that sometimes a whole 12" x 12" page can seem overwhelming, and a lot of space to fill all at once, with these you can work on a little section at a time, the whole page can link up or each section can have it's own little theme, trying out a new stamp set in one, some punch art in another, maybe a section dedicated to journaling and telling the story. While I don't think this page flows very fluently, I had a lot of fun making it, playing with each little rectangle. I can't wait to try my hands at the different combinations that are in the pack. 

 

You may also have noticed that the albums are now Ring Albums instead of Post Albums. This was a change that I was delighted about, while there seems to be more variety here in the UK when it comes to Post Albums, I prefer the Ring style because it makes accessing your pages so much easier. You just turn to the page you want and pop the rings open. The amount of time I have wasted trying to reorganise my pages or add one in, unscrewing the posts, pages slipping everywhere! If you haven't tried Ring Albums before, give these a try you will not be disappointed, they are excellent quality, really sturdy, and come in two sophisticated neutrals. I went for the Crumb Cake 12"x12" but am sure that an Early Espresso 8"x8" Album will be sneaking into my collection fairly soon.

Look At You GROW!

Since Little Miss was born I have taken literally thousands of pictures. The pile to be scrapped grows by the day and yet my free time is virtually non existent . Here I have tried to keep the layout really simple and it came together in around an hour. I love my new alphabet dies as they are going to save me a fortune in alphabet stickers as you can cut out only the letters you need and don't end up with loads of useless V's and Z's!

10 Minutes and Counting!!!

It's my Dads Birthday today, I wasn't supposed to be seeing him until this afternoon so I thought I would have plenty of time to sit and make him a really special card. But, as is the way with this crazy thing we call life an early morning dash to the doctors with my Little Miss and quite a long wait once we got there meant that I was left with all but 10 minutes to create a master piece! And this is what I whipped up, inspired by a picture I saw here I hand drew the guitar body and winged it from there:) I love you Dad, I hope you had a lovely day!

Supplies: CardStock: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Basic Black, Soft Suede, Whisper White. Bakers Twine. Brads. First Edition Specialty DSP. Snail Adhesive, Sticky Strip.